sheana wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am trying to use Windows Movie Maker to convert analog cassettes to
> .mp3 format. I have WindowsXP, and I need to have the "line in" option
> enabled in "Sounds & Audio Devices", under the audio tab. The only
> option I have is my default sound card...a SoundMax Digital Audio. Can
> you please tell me how to enable the "line in" option? Thanks in advance.
I have one of those. When the sound software is installed, there is a
SoundMax control panel. There should be an icon to start it, in the lower
right hand corner of your screen.
http://www.virtual-hideout.net/reviews/ASUS_Striker_Extreme/Test/soundmax.jpg
Notice in that picture, that "Microphone" has a green dot underneath it.
That means Microphone is the current input choice. Click the dot underneath
"Line-In" in the Record section, to make Line-In the input.
You'll also notice there are two buttons with Line-In in the name, one in
the "Playback" section, and one in the "Record" section. The one in "Playback"
should allow you to listen through your computer speakers, as to what is happening.
The one in the "Record" section, is for recording. Play with both of
them, until you get the hang of it. The one in Record is the one you want,
to get this task done.
*******
In my copy of Windows Movie Maker, all I see is a "Capture From Video Device"
option, which also happens to have a sound control inside it. If you don't have
a video device, then you might not have any options there at all.
There are other ways to capture sound. You could capture sound to a file, then
go to Windows Movie Maker and import the sound file there. The Sound Recorder
is an example of a built-in tool.
Programs : Accessories : Entertainment : Sound Recorder
For Sound Recorder, you'll need to use that SoundMax control panel, to
record from Line-In. Sound Recorder doesn't have its own options for
selecting an input source.
The recording time of the Sound Recorder "toy" is 60 seconds by default.
You can make it longer, but there are tricks.
http://www.windowskb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/windowsxp/275654/Windows-Sound-Recorder
If you had an actual Video Device, the "Capture From Video Device" in WMM
may have an option to control the sound input source there. But if you don't
actually have any video capture device, you might not be able to do it
that way. For example, I have a WinTV card, which is why I can use
the "Capture From Video Device" and I can actually see a section of
the dialog in there, that allows selecting the sound source to record
with the video. But if you don't have an actual video device, you might
not be able to get to that dialog.
(Here, you can see that audio options are presented, when a video capture
device is present. And in principle, using the audio section here would
allow a sound recording, and then you could keep just the sound track
when in WMM.)
http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/17/Analog_Capture_Using_Dazzle_DVC_80_files/image002.jpg
A tool just for recording sounds, but without the foolishness of Sound Recorder,
is Audacity. But I still find the icons for this intimidating, and the
interface still isn't as friendly as it should be. You need to go to your
SoundMax control panel, and click the "Line-In" button in the Record section,
to control what Audacity records from. (You would do this, *after* Audacity
starts running, as it may flip the settings on you without warning.)
Then, if you go to Microphone shaped icon near the top of the Audacity
window, and right-click on the downward pointing triangle, there is a
"Start Monitoring" option. If you see the level meter showing a signal there,
then you know Audacity is ready to record something. Simply click the
round record button, and the recording will start. When you're finished,
click the stop icon, and export the output in a format that WMM will accept.
Then in WMM, you can import your new audio recording, clip off the sections
you don't want or whatever.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Audacity is a full sound editor, so you should really be able to finish
all the prep work on a recording in there. Then use WMM just as a
means to a particular output format.
One useful function in Audacity, is "Effect : Amplifier : Normalize". What
that function does, is allows you to boost the audio level in the fils, to
as high as possible without distortion. But don't abuse that function. If
the original recording is "too weak" or "down in the noise", the recording
should be repeated only with better knob adjustments to get a higher original
recording level. Normalize is convenient, if you wanted to get all the tracks
at the same relative level for example. You can "Normalize to 0dB",
which would be pretty loud, or if necessary, Normalize to some lower
dB value. For example, Normalize to -10dB, gives less volume than 0dB,
so the scale is a negative going one.
HTH,
Paul